Review: The Queen of Roses

The Queen of Roses by Julia Kelly
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A delicious look at what it was like to be a woman in the Marriage Mart in the early 20th century. It also offers a look at women reporters in the 1960s, since the story has two timelines.

Theresa, the reporter, has been hired by Adele Pearce to write her autobiography, and so the story starts.

Adele has failed to capture a good marriage in England. So her parents, who have come to Pasadena ostentatiously because of her father's tuberculosis, require her to come to America to make a 'good' marriage. She manages to capture an eligible bachelor and does something unthinkable for the time. (good for her!)

Theresa's story doesn't really come to the fore until the last quarter of the book, when things come to a head.

I enjoyed this book very much since it deals with women's issues and a historical time period. Women were supposed to be pliant and to be what amounts to arm candy for their husbands. However, Adele becomes so much more. There are twists and turns in this book, some of which are obvious, some are not and might surprise you. It was also interesting to learn about gardening in that time period and the wildfires that plague that part of California and still do.

*ARC was supplied by the publisher Gallery Books/Simon and Schuster, the author, and NetGalley.

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SUMMARY: "Spanning the ballrooms of Pasadena and the sunlit gardens of Altadena, a new novel of love and sacrifice from the internationally bestselling author of The Light Over London and The Last Garden in England.

1960: Frustrated reporter Theresa Johnson’s life changes when she receives a phone call from a Miss Pearce who claims her obituary about one of Pasadena’s last great hoteliers is wildly inaccurate. Seeking the truth, Theresa drives to the mysterious Rosewood House nestled high in the Altadena foothills. Even more intriguing than the house’s beautiful garden is Miss Pearce’s proposal that Theresa help her settle old scores by writing her biography.

1903: Beautiful but haughty, Adele Pearce is reluctant to leave the London Season and her last hope of a proposal. When she arrives in California, she discovers the startling truth of why her mother has called her her father has squandered his fortune and Adele must marry a wealthy American to save the family.

Stifled by expectation as Pasadena’s newest doyenne, Adele’s only comfort is Rosewood House and the beautiful garden she creates with the help of taciturn gardener Alexander Macalister. However, as Adele’s feelings for Alex flourish, a fire ignites in the San Gabriel Mountains above Rosewood House, threatening everything Adele holds dear, while in 1960, Miss Pearce learns that history has a terrible habit of repeating itself."